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    Nothing personal, says Maliksi as he torches former team Blackwater

    Allein Maliksi on torching former team Blackwater: Nothing personal
    Sep 18, 2021
    Allein Maliksi
    PHOTO: PBA Images

    IT wasn’t a case of rubbing salt to the wound as Allein Maliksi faced his former team Blackwater.

    The veteran gunner has no intention to offend the Bossing after torching them for a high of 21 points in Meralco’s 103-97 win Saturday that compounded Blackwater’s losing condition in the PBA Philippine Cup.

    Maliksi was on fire at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym, shooting 5-of-8 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point range, and was perfect from the foul line where he went 8-of-8 in all.

    He also added 10 rebounds in 29 minutes of play to pick up in the slack with starters Chris Newsome and Cliff Hodge both out under the league’s health and safety protocols along with Raymar Jose.

    That, along with helping Meralco move closer to claiming the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, was what drove Maliksi to play his best game this season.

    “We’re looking at the No. 2 spot so that magkaroon kami ng twice to beat advantage coming to the playoffs,” he said after the Bolts improved to 7-2 overall and stay at solo second place behind leader TnT Tropang Giga.

    “Pero siyempre yung pinaka-main goal namin is to get in to the finals and makapag-champion kami.”

    Maliksi said the rest of the Bolts are also trying to hold the fort until the return of Newsome, Hodge, and Jose, along with injured guard Aaron Black.

    “Sabi namin ide-dedicate namin itong panalo na ito, ipapanalo namin itong dalawang sunod na schedule para pagbalik nila ready na kami for the upcoming games,” added the gunner out of University of Santo Tomas who turned 34 on Saturday.

    Allein MaliksiAllein Maliksi delivers huge for undermanned Bolts.

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      The Bolts did win their last two games without their key players, and it just so happened Blackwater was one of their opponents.

      Following their latest setback to Maliksi and the Bolts, the Bossing went down as the new holder of the PBA’s most number of consecutive games loss at 19.

      Maliksi commiserates with the team where he once played for more than two seasons, but said it’s a situation where he no longer has any control.

      Besides, he stressed the focus now is to help Meralco advance deep into its campaign in the all-Filipino conference.

      “Ang focus ko talaga is to play for Meralco and ma-achieve namin yung goal namin this conference,” he said.

      During his stay with Blackwater, the team made the playoffs twice, but found himself on the move late in 2019 when he was shipped to Meralco along with Raymar Jose for KG Canaleta, Mike Tolomia, and a second round draft pick.

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      PHOTO: PBA Images
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